I spoke with a world-class photographer yesterday, a good man with a good eye and a better heart. Society is like a camera, he said, and these days, our lens is fixed on the negative, the shadow, the pain. He offered the obvious example—the political vitriol of the day. He mentioned the angry undercurrent of the 24-hour news cycle. He read violent tweets from his timeline. He read some self-aggrandizing tweets too.

The photographer—he’s right. So much media—traditional, alternative, social—is fixated on the negative. And with all those negative messages floating in the air around us, how could we not be weighed down by so much societal pain (which is to say nothing of our own discrete pains)?

Yesterday, I wrote of the timeless maxim on the temple of Delphi—Know Thyself. I offered a sort of “Know Thyself” meditation exercise, one in which I asked you to make 5 lists. Recall the first three lists:

List One: What character values do I most value (e.g., honesty, creativity, loyalty, etc.).

List Two: My talents, skills, and abilities.

List Three: The things that bring me joy.

Why begin here? Because if we know what the character values that motivate us (for me, creativity and collaboration), our talents and skills (for me, writing and communicating), and the things that bring us joy (for me, any old river and a fly rod), we might begin to wake to who we are, who we’ve been created to be. Living into our core values, applying our talents, and chasing after the things that bring us joy will change our frame of reference. Instead of being led into world’s sick sleep, we’ll wake to something that feels more like purpose.

What does this look like? Come back tomorrow to find out.

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Wake Up?

My next book, The Book of Waking Up: Experiencing the Divine Love that Reorders a Life* is available for pre-order NOW. (Amazon, Barnes & Noble) Pre-orders are vital to the success of a book, so please do not wait. Order today. And if you do, let me know via email. I’ll send you a sample along with the 3-part video series that gave rise to this book!

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